Shaka The World

When VCU’s team bus pulled into the Alamodome last Thursday, the only thing I knew about them is they had rolled over Georgetown and Purdue despite being one of the teams college basketball analysts Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale said didn’t deserve to be in the NCAA tournament.

After watching part of their first practice and interacting with the team during their interviews in my role as a media services volunteer for the NCAA Regional that afternoon, my first impression was that they were a loose, confident group that was happy to be here. That made me question their chances of beating Florida State. In my experience working with teams for the Valero Alamo Bowl, more times than not the more focused bowl team usually wins.

However, by the end of the first day everyone who had a chance to spend any time with VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart knew there was something special about him. He had a presence and composure that was beyond his 33 years and “mall employee” appearance as the San Antonio Express-News’ Buck Harvey aptly described him. I could see he wasn’t fazed by the bigger stage as six years as an assistant at Akron, Clemson and Florida made him equally comfortable talking with ESPN’s Pat Forde or directing an open practice in front of hundreds of onlookers.

Shaka was eager to promote his program like when he stopped sipping from his water bottle to yell out to Westwood One’s Kevin Harlan (“K-E-V-I-N H-A-R-L-A-N”) when I was driving him around in a golf cart to his media obligations. He was focused but wanted to enjoy the ride. When I pulled the golf cart too close to the wall and offered to back up to give him more room to get out, he said “No problem. I’m skinny.”

Friday morning I read his brother’s well-written Slate.com story on Shaka’s increasing celebrity (“Honey, Shaka’s trending again!”) and looked forward to watching him on the sidelines. In the back-and-forth overtime win against Florida State, he may have been a little more animated than most coaches but he was always in control. He picked his spots to work the referees and wasn’t afraid to assume defensive stances and run up and down the sideline to implore his team to get their hands up and be active. He also spent a lot of time glancing at a yellow sheet he kept in his pocket and calling in plays to his team while they dribbled at outside the three point line looking back for intructions on what offense to run.

Following VCU’s big win, I watched my Twitter feed explode as clearly the nation was watching. My favorite tweet was from Eric Stangel, the head writer of the Late Show with David Letterman, who wrote: “Congrats VCU- for winning, your reward is to be interviewed by a guy dressed as Willy Wonka… #SagerNeedsHelp”

In the post-game press conference, Shaka performed like a pro. He started by praising his team (“It’s amazing what a team can accomplish when nobody cares who gets the credit”) and made sure to acknowledge Florida State for their effort as well as the other teams in his conference for preparing his team for this tournament run.

VCU returned to the Alamodome on Saturday for practice and another set of media interviews. With only two teams left, the attention had more than doubled but Shaka was just as calm when I drove him around. He told me he hadn’t read his brother’s Slate piece but knew he is a very good writer. He also said that yellow card in his pocket included a typed list of plays that they wanted to run specifically against Florida State. He said he makes notes on the sheet throughout the game so he can be ready to call certain plays in specific situations.

One of the highlights from Saturday’s media availability was when Shaka quoted a line from Dumb and Dumber when told VCU only has a 0.9% chance of winning the NCAA Tournament. His response, “So you’re telling me we have a chance.”

I also laughed when TBS sideline reporter Craig Sager engaged him in an inane coversation. Knowing Shaka often refers to specific opponents as a Steve Kerr (a straight shooter), a Rajon Rondo (someone who will drive to the hoop) or a Dwayne Wade (a shooter/driver) to help his players better defend them, Sager asked Shaka to classify each member of Kansas’ team as a Kerr, Rondo or Wade. The net result was Sager’s revelation that the Jayhawks do not have a lot of Rondos to which Shaka could only say “True, they don’t have a lot of Rondos.”

Before the team headed back to their hotel, VCU’s sports information director told Shaka his sixth grade teacher called to wish him luck against Kansas. Shaka said he remembered two things about her. She was pretty tough on him and her son stole some of his baseball cards.

After a night of what I’m sure included more people from Shaka’s past calling in with their congratulations, VCU returned to the Alamodome Sunday to face #1 Kansas in the NCAA Southwest Regional Final. I sat behind VCU and watched Shaka’s team get down early but bounce back strong. With 7:26 left in the first half, VCU led Kansas 28-17 and Shaka was so animated on the sideline the referee warned him to stay closer to the bench.

Kansas put together a 9-2 run at the beginning of the second half and a call against VCU prompted Shaka to run onto to the court and to complain resulting in a technical. It was only his second technical in two years as a head coach and the Jayhawks were in position to take over the game. However, VCU weathered the storm and grinded out a 10 point win against what Shaka called in the post-game press conference as “the best remaining team on paper in the tournament.”

Following the final press conference, Shaka got in the golf cart and yelled “Let’s eat!” saying he hadn’t had any food since the team meal at 9 a.m. Hopefully he got a huge dinner as the media darling of the NCAA Southwest Region needs to be ready to handle the national attention awaiting them in Houston.

It’s hard to imagine that a team that lost four of their last five games before their conference tournament (inluding an 11 point loss to Old Dominion and a 20 point defeat to George Mason) could win one NCAA Tournament game let alone advance from the First Four to the Final Four. But as the VCU players exited the court after the big upset they were shouting “We’re going to shock the world” and with Shaka at the helm I wouldn’t bet against them.